All the Right Problems, Jo!
by CopperMinted
Summary: What happens when Zane suddenly gains a precognative image of Jo's suicide? Drama, tragedy, angst, and a sprinkling of romance, that's what! May change to M rating later
1. Avoid Him!

_First off I just wanted to say I'm sorry for those who got conflicting messages. The story was being difficult when I was trying to upload it, so I hope the multiple chapters make up for it. _

_A/N: So this is sort of a twist on the Edward Cullen/Twilight thing where he reads Alice's mind and sees Bella about to jump off a cliff and thinks she killed herself and wants to go die. Only, from a Eureka standpoint and stuff changes. Anyway, if you have no idea what I'm talking about or what Twilight is, then by all means ignore this and continue with the story!_

_Just a random idea I had late at night (which is when all the good thinking happens!) and I couldn't let it go. __Just like my thousand and one other Eureka stories.__:D Set approximately 2-3 months after s4 eps9, so roughly July/August. Discounts eps10. _

It was just another day at Global Dynamics, which should have been the first sign something was wrong. No catastrophes had happened, no mad scientist blowing up anything; heck, even the town had been quiet. When even the town made an effort to be calm, that definitely meant something was up.

Jo paced her office, agitated. Normally a quiet day meant some downtime for her, as chief of security. These moments were rare, and almost never occurred. It was almost as if everything and everyone were holding their breath, waiting for the fragile peace to break.

Even Zane was laying low, no doubt planning his next hack or big date for the next week. Jo closed her eyes, her hands curling into fists as her mind sent her unbidden images of the Donovan irritation, as she had so named him, at least in her mind.

He was a constant source of frustration to her, always asking, probing about what secrets she was hiding, and trying to figure out their relationship. He had come to her a week ago and while she wouldn't deny or confirm his theory, he had basically hashed out almost exactly what had happened to her and the 6 other time travelers (he thought Grace was included) when they had gone into the past and returned to a slightly new timeline. While he hadn't told anyone, she was afraid to reveal that that was exactly what had happened, and they had been on the verge of marriage before she was swept away, unable to give him an answer.

She was especially afraid of rejection by this different version of him, and was scared she couldn't ever tell him what he really meant to her. The kiss in Carter's office still bothered her, as she was confident that it was just icing on the cake for Zane.

While he had broken up with Zoe two weeks ago, she was sure he was seeing someone else and stubbornly refused to think about it. If she did, then she would break down, and that was definitely something she _didn't_ want. Jo was a strong woman, and she hid behind that façade now, even as it was ever so slowly crumbling down around her. Josephina Lupo did not do _weak._ Weak was for other people, or for her to kick in the face.

Lately though, it'd become harder for her to cope since Zane's behavior was changing and she'd started considering making a bucket list-of things she wanted to do before she died, as she had little else to keep her occupied when she wasn't at work, besides thoughts of Zane. She'd moved into her new house and gotten it set up the way she liked, practiced weekly at her indoor shooting range with her weapons, and saw pretty much everyone on a regular, daily basis. Even though it was fulfilling, Jo felt herself starting to dread being at home, alone, even sometimes dreading work if it was in her office, where she was oh-so-alone and yet too close to the one man she was trying to avoid.

When she was alone she'd start thinking, and thinking was never a good thing. She knew she over-analyzed everything, and somehow her brain always picked Zane as the topic to start with. Then it would move onto how she wasn't good enough for him, why their relationship hadn't worked out, what she would have done if she had stayed in the past timeline, and on and on and on.

Sometimes she really wished her brain had an off switch.

Usually the only relief she would get from thinking about him was sleep, and even that eventually came to haunt her. Very steamy, erotic dreams, the ones that came from the deep, dark parts of her soul woke her up at all hours of the morning, until she began retreating from sleep and using Vincespresso to stay awake at work.

Ever since she had started thinking about what she wanted to accomplish, she had kept a growing list in the top drawer of her desk, which she let no one see, but added to it whenever she had an idea.

One of the first things on the list had been learning to fly a plane. While the Army Rangers and the Air Force were both part of the overall military, there were few strings between the two and no love lost on either side. However, Jo had always loved flying and had secretly built a few paper models when she was younger that were locked away in her old closet at her dad's house, where no one knew about them.

Still, on Wednesday she'd called up a private flying field in Portland, and arranged everything so that she could go flying this afternoon. With no one the wiser, her plans were set and she was just counting down the hours until she could escape her own personal hell and maybe live a little for a short while.

But what with everything quiet, Jo was starting to get suspicious and was almost waiting for a disaster to appear.

However for her, she didn't realize that she would soon _become_ the disaster.

(A/N: evil author laughter in the background)

(A/N: haha sorry about that, I'm a sucker for sound effects )


	2. Death Plunge?

Jo almost screamed in relief when the clock read three. Nearly tearing out her hair in anxiety this whole day had not been fun. She was starting to believe she almost preferred it when something actually happened, as opposed to waiting for things to get lively. While she had had lots of paperwork on recent incidents to finish and had mowed impatiently through about half, the second half still lay undone and waiting for her on her desk. She simply had been unable to focus once two o'clock hit. Very eager to get away from the walls that she felt were slowly closing in on her, and hoping nothing would happen if she left early, Jo straightened up her office and looked around before shutting the lights off and turning to leave.

Only to find her deputy, Chris Hale, standing right behind her, about to tap her on the shoulder.

Suppressing her urge to put her hand over her heart in fright, she exhaled slowly with her eyes shut then gave him a tight smile.

"Hale," she took the tablet he proffered her and hoped desperately it wasn't a problem, just as she was about to leave and finally get her mind off this stupid place.

"Chief," he greeted her, solemnly stating his purpose. "I finished those data exonar* scans you wanted about last week's bio lab explosion."

Sighing internally in relief, Jo smiled at him and thanked him, expecting him to leave.

"Um, chief," he paused, looking nervous, as if debating whether or not to bring up a certain subject. "You, ya know Dr. Donovan hasn't been up to his usual tricks lately. I'd watch him if I were you."

However, his well intentioned warning fell on deaf ears.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure he'll behave himself. He hasn't been much trouble lately and that's a good thing!"

She smiled again, over-brightly, and handed the tablet back to her assistant.

"Thanks, Hale, I was just about to head out early, so I transferred the files onto my office computer and I'll get them in the morning, ok?" Jo turned quickly and walked away, her own tablet clutched under another arm. Hale stared after her, wondering what was wrong with his boss. She never, _ever_, discounted anything he had to say, especially after that particular party with the bowling ball, Champaign, shoes, and oddly shaped pineapple. He had _totally_ been right about the riot and even helped Jo clean up the absolutely destroyed section 3 afterward too.

So now, as she completely blew off his concerns about a certain Donovan, he stared after her, wondering if she was ok.

Jo stumbled toward her car and leaned her forehead against it as she struggled to pull her keys out of the awkward shaped suit pockets that were ill-suited to be actually used, and finally dropped the damn things once they were out.

_Calm down Jo, _she thought as she closed her eyes for a moment, noticing that she was trembling, a lot. _Nerves? Or am I ill? _she wondered. Feeling her forehead with the back of her hand, she had to admit she was a bit warm and sweating just a little.

Taking a deep breath, she looked to see if anyone had seen her "moment" and was relieved to find no one around. Taking a second look around, she observed that that was strange, there was always someone around outside. Shrugging, she climbed into her car, somewhat more steady than before and shrugged off her jacket. Wiping more sweat off her forehead (that she attributed to just an unusually warm day [it was summer after all!]) Jo started her car and headed home to change.

On the roof of GD, the telescope observatory's door opened and out stumbled a man, clutching at his hands. The smell of burning human skin drifted out and the man collapsed just a few feet out the door, his heart rate flat-lining as he basically melted into the roofing.

From inside the now-abandoned little observatory room, a beeping noise steadily grew louder as the man's flesh tried to mold itself into the ground.

After having grabbed some Tylenol and taking a quick, cold shower, Jo felt a little better as she drove down the highway to Portland. Not wanting to miss the expensive and private flying lesson, she hurried a bit, forgetting to put on sunscreen and bring water with her when she went.

She had called up an old friend of hers from the military that she had found out owned a plane and he had offered to teach her. Since he was certified, she agreed and shelled out the enormous amount of money it took to fuel the plane, that being her half of the bargain.

Turning off onto the exit for the small, local airfield, not the big Portland airport, she had the strangest sensation, and a slight tingling in her extremities. The next moment, everything went fuzzy and Jo fell forward onto the steering wheel, blacking out.

Jo awoke, groaning. There was a tapping sound on her window and she glanced confusedly to her left, until she realized her friend, Neal, stood there, looking concerned. Mashing the button to roll down her window, Jo kept hitting it when it wouldn't respond. Frustrated, she simply opened her door, and sighed.

From behind, Neal greeted her with a "When you didn't answer your phone, and I found you passed out in a dead vehicle, usually I'd start sniffing for sabotage. But I'm not in the military anymore, so I'll settle for, are you ok?"

Jo turned around slowly, as a wave of nausea swept through her and left, just as quickly as it came. "Yea, I think I am," she greeted Neal with a weak smile.

"Just got overexcited at finally doing this," she ventured once she was sure she had all bodily functions under control. They hugged and Jo was truly happy to see him. He was one of the few military friends she still kept in contact with and hadn't seen him in forever.

"C'mon, we'll take my truck and I'll have your car towed to the lot by the field, where we can get someone to look at it for you," he offered and Jo smiled back at him, momentarily forgetting her illness as she got in the passenger's side of his truck.

Once they had finally gotten into the plane and were up in the air, Neal spoke over the intercom system in their headphones and motioned for her to take control of the plane.

"Ready, Jo?" was almost drowned out by Jo's heartbeat and her acute awareness of the fact that it was reeeeeally, really hot in the small plane with no air conditioning, and Jo was starting to feel a tingling in her fingertips again. Scared that she was going to pass out again, Jo tried to warn Neal of a possible problem, but the mic chose that time to die in a crackle of static, just as Neal dragged her grip to the joystick-like lever that controlled the plane and motioned for her to use her feet on the bar system that seemed to run through the front of the inside of the small plane. Jo tried to shake her head at him, a warning, but he thought she was just plain scared and laughed.

Jo started feeling lightheaded and weightless. While they were in an airplane, gravity was still acting on them and Jo thus concluded that something was very, very wrong. She suddenly gained a splitting headache that combined with all the noise, sounded very much like someone yelling in her head. A specific, tall dark and handsome someone who haunted her thoughts every moment of every day, more precisely.

A minute later though, Neal stopped laughing as all the instruments in the cockpit started going wild. Crazy readings fluctuated between normal and bad, so he didn't notice when Jo suddenly slumped over the joystick, small blue electricity sparks covering her hands that were still wrapped tightly around the steering mechanism. The best Neal could hope for was to bring the plane down in a controlled crash. Halfway down from an altitude of 20,000 feet, he started to smell smoke. Finally noticing his friend, he pulled her out of the plane just as it burst into flames, and yanked the parachutes he'd managed to grab, open.

_* I made this up off the top of my head, but you'll see what it means later _

_Just so everyone knows, I was actually describing what I could remember from my real flight in a Mooney (it's a little bigger than a Cessna) plane two summers ago. The owner actually let me fly the plane for real for a little bit too! It was one of coolest things I've ever done. XD (and yes, it was actually really, REALLY hot in there with no a/c in the middle of July over Texas!)_


	3. Where Is That Woman?

Zane threw down the tools he was using with a crash. For some reason he was having difficulty focusing today. Zane snorted, no he wasn't. Lately he'd been distracted _every_ day by a certain short Enforcer who wielded the power of a nuke. All of his thoughts, dreams, and if he was getting serious with himself, might as well add in subconscious desires, were about her. Nothing he did would get her out of his mind. Especially since he hadn't seen her around lately because she'd been holed up in her office, presumably avoiding him. With his ex-girlfriend out of town and Carter always running around, Zane was finding he had less and less distractions to keep himself from thinking of her.

Grabbing a tablet, Zane left his office. He'd promised Parrish that he'd work on some of his old projects for him, and hadn't got a lot done on them lately, for obvious reasons. He figured he'd try one of his many thinking spots to focus one last time, before he completely ditched the project. Governmental reviews were due the next week and Zane wasn't exactly on top of things right now.

Deciding he didn't particularly want to be around people, not after that particularly steamy image of Lupo in nothing but blue silk, Zane roamed through the halls heading for one of his least-used hideaways. The roof. Since only the observatory people were up there (all two of them), he had decided long ago that they were more than tolerable. He had his corner of roof, they had theirs.

Leaning against the corner formed by the elevator shaft housing and an a/c unit, Zane sat with his elbows on his knees and hands hanging between, from which his computer and stylus dangled. Glancing up, his mind far away, he didn't notice the smear until he took a second look.

_Holy cow!_ punctured his thoughts of Lupo and he got to his feet rapidly, shoving the stylus back into his tablet and stuffing that under his arm. Moving rapidly over the huge GD roof, he approached the observatory's side and was glad he hadn't left his tablet on the other side of the expansive roof. He rapidly took a picture of the scene, emailed it to Fargo, and only then became aware of the beeping noise emanating from the inside of the observatory control room. Stepping inside the small space, he quickly attached his tablet to the internal computer via usb and started running through system schematics until he arrived at what was wrong.

Just as he was about to correct the .84 micron angle that the telescope was off by, his tablet suddenly went blank. Swearing heavily under his breath, Zane went to grab the charger that was lying on the tiny desk in the corner that was available for all the GD computers to recharge from.

_Of all the times for me to lose battery…._ Zane thought as he went to plug the damn thing in. Never noticing the internal computer starting to glow faintly, he had no time to react as a blue pulse ran up the usb connector and shocked him. Zane thought he could hear screaming in the background as he clutched his head. Simultaneously, thousands of images poured through his brain like water, though one stood out in front of all the others.

Perhaps it was because he'd been thinking about her so much, but it was one of Jo, sitting in what looked like a cockpit of some sort, while flames roared around her. The next moment, the scene changed to one on the ground, where he saw through another's eyes, Zane watched the flaming metal tube plunge to the ground, where it exploded in a fiery ball of death.

Zane's tablet dropped to the ground with a loud crash, breaking in two. It broke Zane's flow of images and they all disappeared as Zane vaguely noticed someone was screaming. It was in a small, remote part of his brain until he realized that he was the only one on the roof, and that it was _him _screaming. Overwhelmed, his brain shut down and Zane knew nothing else but darkness.

Zane simultaneously opened his eyes and sat up quickly, his mind having been jumpstarted just a second before.

"Where is she?" he demanded of Fargo, who had been busily typing away on his tablet until he saw that Zane was awake. Allison pushed Zane back down on the bed and sternly told him "What do you think you were doing up there? You can't move around much, as the electrical impulses in your brain were absolutely fried. What were you messing with on the roof, Zane? And did it have something to do with the person who was up there as well? We only found a smear…"

Fargo cut her off abruptly.

"Thank you, Allison but I'll handle the interrogation. Now then, Dr. Donovan, what the hell were you doing on the roof screaming Ms. Lupo's name and how did Dr. Lesueche become a fried smear of human cells on the ground? We literally had to pry what was left of him off the ground. He had melted into the roofing." At this, Fargo paused seriously.

Zane started to climb out of the bed while speaking quickly.

"No time, Fargo, Jo's in danger or it already happened." He paused in shoving his shoes on to grab at his suddenly very sore head and felt the small silver electrodes behind his ears. Popping them off, he dumped them on the bed, only to turn around and find Fargo blocking his way.

"Look, Fargo, get out of my way. Dammit I…JO doesn't have time for this!" Zane spoke in a low threatening tone, which Fargo completely ignored.

"No, Zane. You hear me, now. You aren't going anywhere until you explain what exactly the hell is going on here. Right now. I will call security if I need too."

Zane glared at Fargo as he rapidly summarized what had happened for him.

"Look I went up to the roof to think, found the dead, smeary human streak, emailed you, tried to correct the telescope angle, which by the way, isn't fixed, and got shocked by the main telescope computer. I'm guessing it's the same thing that got the other guy, but I don't know why I wasn't killed. I started getting these weird images and one of them was Jo, in danger. That's all I know before I think I blacked." Zane refused to even think the word, _suicide._ He knew, well, thought he knew Josephina Lupo well enough in any timeline to know that that was not her style. At all. She faced her problems head on and came at them like a battering ram. Well…most of the time. Zane frowned as he thought of the way she'd been avoiding him the last week or so. So, any other problem besides him. He took a sharp, jerky breath as something poked him hard in the chest. He almost panicked until he realized it was The ring. What had currently become the One Ring was still intact, on the chain under his shirt, where he'd taken to wearing it. Odd, as it was the same place Jo had worn it, but it felt weird to have it anywhere else. Like he had to honor that it was hers and what she had done with it. At the same time, a small part of him wished it was where it properly belonged, on Jo's left ring finger, but Zane couldn't stop to decipher his feelings. The current lady in discussion was in trouble and Zane wasn't about to leave her that way for long.

Asking Fargo for the time, Zane did some quick deducing from the picture-perfect memory of the scene from his head. He did not like the answer.

"Fuck. Fargo, we've really gotta go, NOW. The image I saw happened five minutes ago. She could be…." Zane didn't, couldn't finish the sentence, but Fargo got his drift. After determining Jo's location, discharging Zane quickly (and promising Allison he would have Donovan back for tests just as soon as this whole thing was over), he and Zane raced out of GD to one of the black company SUVs. Fargo threw the car into drive as Zane held on for dear life.

Zane had to admit there may have been some truth about Fargo being good in a crisis. He kept his head and didn't allow for any distractions. Zane pelted out directions from the onboard tablet that could be linked to any location as Fargo drove like a madman. Glancing cautiously at the man next to him, Zane observed the speedometer creeping slowly upwards of 110. Fargo drove like he was going for a Sunday spin, not a high speed road chase.

Carefully maneuvering around the early commuter rush hour traffic, Douglas Fargo was not a man to be messed with right now. One of his best friends, time-traveling partners-in-crime, and his not-so-secret (rejected) crush was in trouble and he prayed he wasn't too late.

Nearly missing the exit because of Zane's belated directions, Fargo almost hit the familiar sporty blue Mazda 3 sitting in the middle of the grass and dirt track that passed by a forest on one side and a field on the other to get to the airfield and correlated buildings. Zane was out the door before Fargo had even stopped moving and checking out the car. Fargo waited impatiently in the car as Zane first confirmed there was no one in the car and second that the car was dead. Turning slightly, Zane conversed with Fargo back in the car through headsets and missed the slight blue spark that jumped from his left hand resting on the steering wheel of the car. A second later Zane was cut off and startled into jumped back from the car as it magically started.

Zane and Fargo shared an I'm-just-slightly-creeped-out-by-what's-happening-here-but-I'm-from-Eureka-so-I-shouldn't-be-surprised look and Zane got in Jo's car. Speaking into his earpiece, he told Fargo he would meet him at the airfield. Then both took off, determined to find Jo.


	4. You Scared Me! Sriously!

Jo became aware of her surroundings slowly. First, she noticed that she was warmer than she'd ever been and that she was being held by someone. Something else then caught her attention, the sound of voices. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but they sounded hurried and anxious. Someone asked the person holding her something and she felt, rather than heard the reply. The speaker's voice rumbled nicely in his chest and just hearing the warm tone of it made her feel safe. She almost unconsciously snuggled closer to it, wanting to be nearer to it. The rumbling abruptly stopped and she almost wanted to beg it to continue, just so she could lean into it and feel the comfort it gave off. But no, her consciousness started fading away again and she slipped into that cool blackness somewhat unwillingly.

Jo was _pulled_, somewhat roughly to brutual consciousness by the splitting headache she was experiencing. Groaning, she opened her eyes to glaring light. Squinting a few times, three shadows made themselves known over her. Still unable to see, Jo was able to deduce who they were by their voices.

"THANK GOD!" was Fargo, with much relief evidenced by his overdramatic exclamation.

"Ah good, she's awake, now I can get those blood tests without her trying to kill me every time I try to get a sample," Allison's voice rang with wry relief as she typed hurriedly away on her tablet. The two other faces came into view slowly as Jo tried to sit up.

"Whoa,whoa!" Carter moved forward to restrain her, with trained hands. "Hey there, trooper," he smiled softly at her. "Good to see that you're back, none of this unconscious stuff there now." After kissing her forehead, he backed off to talk to Allison letting the fourth and unnoticed until now visitor have his moment.

"Feels like déjà vu," drawled a voice from her right. "First time you get shot, second time you try to commit suicide," his voice turning tight at the end of the sentence.

Jo closed her eyes for a second. Of course he'd be here. The one person she tried the hardest to avoid ends up next to her hospital bed. She opened her mouth to deny his statement but he cut her off.

" I mean, seriously, of all the ways to die? Going out in a fiery tin ball? What the _hell_ were you thinking Lupo?" All the snarkiness drained out of his voice as he got viciously quiet.

"Are you going to let me speak?" she demanded, fed up with his assumed accusations.

"Go right ahead," he growled angrily back at her, "nobodies stopping you from doing anything else stupid either. Apparently somebody needs to get you a keeper." Zane folded his arms across his chest and glared at her, waiting impatiently for her to explain.

"First of all, I was _Not_ committing suicide, second of all, _I _do not need a fucking keeper," she continued, outraged, and was struck by a second thought. "How the hell did you know where I was and what I was doing? I didn't tell anyone where I was going or what I was going to do…" She trailed off, eyes narrowed at him.

Giving her stare for stare, Zane answered. "I saw it. I saw everything that happened. I don't know how it happened but I got zapped by some light up by the telescope and suddenly could see snippets of the future. Or present, whichever way you wanna look at it."

Jo looked down, suddenly confused. Running a hand through her messy hair, she let out a frustrated growl. "I went there to get away from everything, to get away from my problems, which mainly consist of _you_." Snorting, she added, "obviously, that didn't work". She softly added, not looking at him, "I just _became_ the problem".

Zane looked at her, thunderstruck. Were his ears deceiving him? Or did he just hear Josephina Lupo admit that she had become vulnerable? He examined her expression carefully, only to find no trace of sarcasm, only tiredness, defeat and depression flickering on her face. Desperate to get Jo back to her omnipotent, old self, he admitted " You're only all the right problems, Jo."

Jo jerked back, startled that he had heard her. She peered up at him, afraid he was being snarky and douche, but his completely serious expression threw her. Was Zane Donovan, snarky, trickster, horn-dog that he was, being completely honest with her? Well, she didn't know this Zane as well as she'd known her own.

Zane figured, while he was turning over a new leaf with this Josephina, might was well be unexpected while he was at it. He got up to leave, but turned back to her so fast that she couldn't pull away, and kissed her on the forehead. Turning back around, he started to saunter to the door, smirking silently in triumph. _Score one for the Donovan, _he smirked as he walked out. Her look of startled vulnerability would be permanently scarred into the backs of his eyelids for the rest of his life.

_Oh-Ho-Ho-Ho! And a very merry Christmas to you too! Haha I'm gonna leave this delicious cliffy until I can actually write the very long chapter that will be up either Wednesday or Thursday that will be _quite _juicy! Hope y'all enjoyed the story so far! Don't worry, with things heating up between the cute couple, it's bound to get interesting ;D Now, no killing me until I can update, but reviews miiiiiiiiight persuade me to make it sooner!_


	5. Jumping to Conclusions

_Kudos to whomever can spot the band reference in here! So we lost power yesterday, what with all the snow and it turned to ice last night and tonight and so I've been scrambling to catch up on writing. Forgive my non-updates._

Zane surremptiously glanced over his shoulder to check that no one was watching him. No one was, but Zane was a little paranoid today, so he switched his planes up anyway. Moving the infirmary security camera feeds onto his tablet from his desktop seemed safest. He just wanted to be left alone regardless. Every time he had to talk with someone or someone touched him, his perfect memory would try to recall what bits of the future he'd seen about them. Seeing scientists eating hamburgers, getting into fights and more had really set him on edge. The fourth time, he freaked at the lab tech, yelling "No, I don't care if you're going to have sex with your wife tonight. Just stay OUT OF MY HEAD!" The terrified technician had hurriedly dropped the results on Zane's dark and scurried out the door. Glaring at everyone around him, Zane got back to work. Hacking into security feeds to watch the _head_ of security wasn't going to do itself and he didn't want Hale, Lupo's second-in-command on his trail.

Ignoring the now-whispering other scientists in the room, as Zane was almost never this mad, unless it was frustration at Lupo (and that hadn't happened in a while with this new Jo), he grabbed the current project he was working on, which was portable, and his tablet and stormed out of the room.

Deciding he didn't want a repeat of what had happened on the roof, he went to another f his usual haunts, an abandoned lab in section one, also incidentally on the same level as and near Jo's office. It was only three doors down, actually and got Zane wondering. He knew he shouldn't and he would hate to lose his brownie points with her should she find out, but he just couldn't resist.

_Well then Zane, we just can't let her find out,_ he thought to himself as he relocked up his hiding place and overrode her door command sequence before he got to her office.

He'd timed it carefully so that Hale was on his lunch break and his shift replacement was on level five, so he could slip in and slip out with ease.

With the amount of traffic in the section one hallway, he just casually walked into her office; to do so otherwise would be suspicious especially since her office was dark. He had an excuse ready if he should run into any trouble though. He'd simply say that Jo had requested a time-sensitive file from her office and he happened to be the closest person not doing something important.

However, he'd also locked the doors behind him, too. He was only going to be a few minutes, or so he figured.

Sitting in her chair with silence pressing in on him, because the walls of her office were soundproof, Zane simply stopped for a moment.

He imagined Jo in his place, going about her day as chief-of-security, trying to hide her secret and heartbreak and not let anyone sanction her, Fargo, Carter, Allison or Henry.

Oh yes, he knew now. When he'd had the future flood of thoughts, besides seeing her supposed "suicide" he'd also seen Jo thinking about the whole situation and knew that he'd proposed to Jo in the original timeline. He'd called himself ten kinds of idiot in four different languages when he'd seen himself, or rather, the other Zane run off without letting Jo answer, and also felt her regret at not answering him, despair that the situation had changed so drastically and hopelessness at the fact that she could never go back. However, he'd also seen the love she still harbored for the other him and how much she'd been willing to give up to go back and marry one of them. At this point, what he'd seen contrasted greatly with what she'd said to him before she'd thrown his grandmother's ring at him. She said she'd been fantasizing their relationship and that they didn't work when she thought she was talking to the phantom him, not the actual him.

So he'd seen her confusion and doubt and was oddly disappointed. Disappointed that she'd never even bothered to think of giving this-reality-him a second chance at what they'd had.

After finding out he'd been in a relationship with JoJo for nearly two years, made him strangely want to beat other-timeline-him up, for screwing up at the one crucial moment; if only he'd waited just a little longer for Jo to say yes, then maybe they wouldn't be in this weird mess, and they'd be married, she'd be Mrs. Zane Donovan and everything would be right again.

But he couldn't keep beating himself up for things that he technically never did, so instead he focused on the present and went to snoop in Jo's files.

That is, until he found her list.

Zane burst into the nearly empty infirmary, ignoring Allison completely and nearly flew over to Jo's bed, where she lay sleeping, looking like death, her dark hair spread out around her like a halo, emphasizing her paleness. Dr. Blake, seeing his expression, quickly left the room, leaving the two completely alone, although she carried a tablet with her to monitor Jo's vitals.

Some of his anger dropped at seeing her so pale and still, but it wasn't enough to relieve his damning evidence he held clutched tightly in his left hand.

He dropped into the visitors' chair by her bed and growled almost silently, "Jo."

When she didn't respond at all, he got up and leaned over Jo, but not too close, just in case she freaked that he was in her personal space and decided to deck him. He said her name again, softly, almost purring the word. This time, he got a response.

Jo woke up and swore she was dreaming. While she was in immense pain everywhere, the most angelic sight was in front of her. She groaned slightly, thinking it was probably fake. But no, after blinking several times, Zane's face hovering over her somewhat worriedly, didn't disappear. She'd heard the almost seductive purr of her name from his lips and wished that he loved her like she did and her heart began to ache.

Groaning, she tried to sit, closing her eyes briefly as the pain became almost unbearable. Strong but gentle arms helped her by rearranging pillows and supporting her back; even though he was still mad at her, he didn't let any of it reflect in his motions. When she reopened her eyes once she'd gotten situated comfortably enough, his scowl was firmly back in place, letting her know he was still mad at her.

"Glad your back" he started shortly, adding in his head, _in GD where you are under lock and key and close enough so I can watch you constantly._

"Thanks," Jo nodded, a small movement but still big enough to make her head pound. Wincing, she stopped and instead just focused her gaze on him, as a frustrated expression appeared on his face.

He wasn't really sure how to say this without giving away the fact that he'd been in her office, but he forged ahead, regardless. Something had to be said. He couldn't let her do these things. Just the first few completely contrasted what she'd said earlier about not being suicidal. However, Zane wasn't convinced by her words and looking down, said thickly, "JoJo, you need to stop getting hurt. You're starting to worry everyone," adding, _you're worrying _me,_ Jojo, _in his head. "And this," he held up the list, "Isn't going to help you at all."

Jo, eyes wide and frantic, grabbed for the list, despite the huge amount of pain it caused. Sensory overload of pain caused her to pass out before she could reach the paper, her hand just touching Zane, who felt like he'd been burned with just the lightest touch by Jo. He quickly grabbed her, before she could fall and as the unconscious Jo sagged against him, he murmured, "woah, woah, woah, sweetheart," as he gently rearranged her so that she lay back against the pillows and covered her with the blanket. Kissing each of her eyelids before he picked up his backpack and tablet, Zane left quietly, but not before staring at her for a long time.

_**So do forgive my lame ending on this chapter, as I am not really sure where I am going with this story right now. I have a few ideas, but if anyone would like to contribute ideas, that'd be lovely. Cheers!**_


	6. Clues? What clues? Overlooked Info

Jo wasn't allowed to leave the infirmary for two more days, which gave Zane time to think. Clearly, Jo had not been her old rational self and that worried him. Not having her hovering over him continuously seemed almost odd, and he kept expecting her to walk in at any moment, in those hot power suits of hers, her killer heels and her ice queen demeanor.

Except she'd changed, and now Zane wasn't so sure if it was for the better. While granted, she wasn't throwing his ass in jail at every chance, her bitchy attitude had changed into that of what he'd first thought was just her withdrawing from everything and everyone, but now realized had been depression. He cursed himself for not seeing it earlier, as he was very worried about her. He hadn't yet realized he was in love with her but he'd die if she killed herself regardless. What other point was there to staying in this otherwise crummy town? She was one of the main reasons he'd stuck around, _alright,_ the main reason he'd stuck around in Eureka. Screwing with the Enforcer had always been fun, until Founder's Day. But now that she was different, it concerned him, especially as her life seemed to hang in the balance now.

Scrunching up the sleeves of his button-down and henley, he brought his mind back to the present, as he read over the specs from every related project to the telescope, and who Dr. Lesueche was and what exactly he did, as he had no further leads to why he'd gotten shocked. Scrolling quickly through his hack job, he backed up as he ran across an interesting fact. Reading it over several times, his eyes widened as he simultaneously grabbed his phone and dialed Henry while running out the door with his tablet.

EUReKA

Jo had just gotten released from the infirmary and getting dressed quickly, left the hated place. While she didn't mind the people that worked there, she hated having to be there for anything other than information. And she'd been there far too often, lately, for her comfort. As she left, walking briskly to the elevator, she rubbed the remnants of her headache away.

Getting into the elevator, two other scientists who were already in there murmured "Ms. Lupo," respectfully at her, and avoided her gaze. Sighing inwardly, Jo gave them a short nod and turned to face the doors, wishing that just once; everyone else who hadn't time traveled would just see her as a normal person and not be freaked out of their skin like she would kick their asses at any moment. Not for the first time she wondered what other-her had been thinking when she'd made such a different life for herself in Eureka. Although she recognized that she had to keep up the hard-ass attitude, lately it was becoming harder and harder, especially towards Zane, who'd given her so much grief, in this timeline and the one previous.

Her mind brought up unbidden images of said man, who had seemed extremely worried about her. She still couldn't forget his face when she'd woken up the second time. The half-angry, half-worried look he'd been so intently giving her made something flutter in her stomach. She hadn't seen that look on his face before and it concerned her somewhat. Now more than ever she didn't know how much she could trust him and it was bothering her heavily.

Arriving at her level, she stepped off the elevator and slid into the traffic stream that ran through the hallways circling the rotunda. Stopping at her office, she picked up some paperwork that had piled up in her absence and grabbed her tablet too. Unsure if her car had been returned to GD or her home, she called Carter for a ride.

Starting to feel a tingling sensation again, she hurriedly sat down, hands holding her head, worried about having a relapse of her accident in the plane.

EUReKA

Zane ran to the infirmary, on the phone with Henry to confirm some readings. Walking in quickly, still on the phone, he frowned and said, "Henry, just get to GD. Jo's gone and we need to find her before this causes her to get hurt or…worse." Zane ended the call and passing by Alison, asked her where Jo had gone. Thanking her, he left, running out the door, and hoping he wasn't too late.

_Ok, so I know this was a short filler chapter but I finally know where this story is going, and (basically) how I'm getting there. So if everyone can just hang tight for a bit, while I try to get through SATs, then I promise I will (hopefully) have more time for story-writing. Thanks!_


End file.
